This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
NateBenson32’s review published on Letterboxd:
This review may contain spoilers.
I thought it was really good.
I think the minimalistic speaking roles was a great touch. Have the action drive the story rather than people telling the story of how some random creature attacks people and then have the characters continue on with whatever would cause that.
I loved the lighting usage in parts
-The gradual descent of sunlight as the girl sat on the bench and wrote
-The park scene with the cigarette as the only light on screen/the revelation of the scarecrow
-When she rushed outside but the scarecrow was already waiting in the rain
-The slight running of her makeup as she ran home and reached the top of the stairs
There were some great camera shots
-The opening scene of just the man lying in an empty road (I liked the way the road dimmed really quickly and had the focus on the middle of the screen, the guy lying there was visible but didn't seem to be the "main character" in the shot)
-The close-up shots on the girl and what she was doing; lighting cigs, tearing out pages, scribbling
-The bench being the focus in the park, even when you could see a man approaching from the background
Decent acting performances
-The Scarecrow slowly walking into frame from the kitchen
-The face-to-face cigarette-lit scene in the park/The man picking up the dropped lighter
-The trembling of the girl as she saw him in the kitchen/when she saw him outside
There wasn't much that I didn't like
-The only sentence spoken being "What do you want from me" (I understand it was kind of meant to be a cheesy moment) I felt like it could've been acted better. It didn't seem too urgent in delivery.
-Was sometimes music-heavy, like right before an appearance of the Scarecrow.
Tips?
-Maybe you could've had some spit dripping into frame from the guy's mouth while you showed the shot of the pile of dirt and worms (to give more of the feeling that the guy had JUST spat it out)
-Maybe a little less music on Scarecrow appearances and a little echoey footsteps when he appeared from the bathroom
-When the girl was walking up the steps, there wasn't much noise from her steps, though that's more of the directors' choice if they wanted to go with "she's sneaking in because she's not 100% sure she's safe" or "she's rushing into the house to escape"
I'm no film major, but I can appreciate some of the details I don't normally think about, especially when done better than other horror films who just want the in-your-face approach.
I know 0 terminology when it comes to lighting and camera shots so I couldn't quite describe exactly what I meant.
Would recommend!